Everything Sucks

Everything sucks. Everybody sucks. Sucks sucks sucks. Emotional sponginess sucks. Sucks. Oh yeah, and everything sucks. Thankyouandgoodnight.

Here We Go Again

Why is it that the people I don't want to date always ask me out and the ones that I do are never interested? Bastards.

Love/Hate Relationship With Music

Most of the time I love music...which I'm sure is obvious based on how much I write about it and surround myself with people who play instruments and sing and love it as much as or more than I do. Today, I threw a mixed cd into the player on the way home from work and the next thing I know, I'm thinking about Jeremiah. Haven't thought about him in months. Stupid cd. I hate it when a song takes you somewhere you don't want to go in the mental archives. Can't do anything about it either because, like a lot of the people I know, I believe every moment worth remembering has a song attached to it...kind of like a soundtrack for your life. And just like there are some songs that will forever be associated with certain movies ("Pretty In Pink," "Take My Breath Away," "Danke Schein"), there are some songs that always make me think of certain people. In some cases, like today, I wish I could do something about that...like reassociate the songs that remind me of people I'd rather forget with people I love. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. Stupid cd...

Fast Forward to Friday

While I'm still "cleaning the guest room," I feel much better today. Shauna and I both slept in, which for me meant 11 hours of sleep since I stayed in last night and watched my all time favorite movie (What A Way To Go) and ordered in pizza and Vanilla Pepsi. Once we were both up and ready to go, we headed over to Dot's for lunch and then met up with Nicole and Jenny at Cap'n Ankeny's for drinks. It's still sunny so we were sitting at a table outside and when it finally got too hot, we decided to go look for Halloween costumes (or at least go try on wigs and masks). Unfortunately, we decided too late because by the time we to back to our house to call around and see where we should go first, we would only have had 1/2 hour to get there and look around so we said screw it. Owen showed up and chatted for a bit, Nicole and Jenny took off and then so did Owen so Shauna and I headed over to Blockbuster to take back the 4 movies I'd already watched and get two more to watch tonight. I'd already seen Identity and loved it and Shauna had already seen Anger Management and liked it enough to watch it again, so we got both and a crapload of candy. I think I'm crashing from the sugar high right now because I'm zonked and it's only 10:15pm. Anyway, I know I said I was going to stay in more from now on, but I've already got plans to go to karaoke on Wednesday night, a hockey game at the Rose Garden on Thursday night and a party at Jason's house on Friday night. D'oh. I'm already looking forward to sleeping in on Saturday and it's not even Monday yet.

Whiny Little Biatch

First off, I feel like crap. Cramps suck ass. If someone knows how to make Aleve work faster, let me know. Second, it didn’t take much convincing from Sally to get me out last night and I met some very cool folks at the Boiler Room hanging out with Trip after Sally and Steph took off. So, now there’s yet another group of people to socialize with and damn it all, I’m supposed to be staying home and hibernating. And finally, it’s 2/3s of the way through September and the sun is out and there’s not a cloud in the sky. That is complete bullshit, man. Where’d the frickin’ rain go? You know what? That’s it. I’m taking a nap. Screw this sunny weather…I’m sleeping through it.

I know, I know…

Usually when I don’t post anything for a few days it means I’ve been out playing and I’m just too tired by the time I get home to turn on the laptop… But I will have you know that the last three nights I’ve been at home and in bed before 10pm. Just haven’t been in the mood to be around anyone and I’ve been catching up on my movie watching. While I will never deny that I am a social creature, I’ve always preferred hanging out with one or two people at a time. I love going out, but I’m just as happy staying home with a friend or three and watching a movie or playing a game. And I think the recent change in weather is kicking my brain into stay-at-home mode. I’m ready to bundle up and wear sweaters and coats and scarves and hats and boots and drink hot chocolate and read a book…basically, I’m going into hibernation mode. Now, this is not to say that I won’t ever want to go out. For example, I have a standing date with the karaoke bar on Wednesday nights. Unless I’m dead tired, sick, dying or some force of nature stops me (like a kick ass concert I can’t miss or, god forbid, an actual date), I’ll be out on Wednesday night. Beyond that, who knows? Yeah, I know, all that staying home is going to make for a less-than-thrilling blog, but maybe I’ll actually start writing more personal stuff rather than all the so-I-went-to-this-show stuff I’ve lately been posting. We’ll see what happens…

Shopper By Day, Movie Watcher By Night

After closing out The Boiler Room on Friday with Sally and Steph R. (so much for staying home, eh?), Jenn and I decided to drive out to 82nd and feed a Jack In The Box craving. Needless to say, we got to sleep around 4am. Consequently, we did not get up at 7am to go to the wall raising for the 100th house in Portland built by Habitat For Humanity. Yeah, we suck but we were well rested and we needed all the sleep we could get before brunch at the Cricket Cafe and the urban hiking trip we took right after (read: shopping extravaganza). Selfish? Maybe. But I'm willing to accept that. After we finally got shopped out, the only thing I wanted to do was veg out on the couch and watch movies, so I called Eric to see what what on his agenda and asked him if he was up for movies and pizza. Since no one can say no to that, he showed up about and hour and a half later. I'd gotten five movies for the week and we managed to get through three last night: House on Haunted Hill, Waking Life and Daredevil. I still have Unbreakable and Dracula 2000, which I'll most likely watch tonight. Today, I have to go out to Clackamas Town Center, but since I'm still sorta shopped out, it'll hopefully be a quick exchange and then I can come back and take a nap.

Home On A Friday Night? What The Crap?

Yeah, I'm actually at home. Can you believe it? Me either. Know what else I can't believe? I don't have any plans for the weekend. Not one. Mindboggling.

Yet Another Messed Up Movie

Ok, so I should have learned my lesson from May, but I'm obviously not that quick. The movie is called Spun and it's got Brittany Murphy, John Leguizamo, Jason Schwartzman, Debbie Harry, Mena Suvari, Mickey Rourke. They're all cracked out and it's scene after scene of messed up shit. However, it was really well shot and there were shitloads of cameos. That's all I can say about that.

That Was Just Wrong.

On my way home from work yesterday, I saw a line that had stretched around the block starting at the Aladdin Theater. Thinking there must be some cool band playing last night, I scanned the marquee to see who was drawing such a big crowd. Sad but true, it was Hanson. Freakin’ Hanson. Can you believe it? No? Me either. Sick and wrong. The worst part was that a bunch of the kids outside were wearing Suicidal Tendencies, Dropkick Murphys, Rage Against The Machine etc. hoodies and t-shirts. Oh the shame. The guys in those bands wouldn’t even bother kicking Hanson’s collective ass because it would be too easy. Anyway, I got home and fully intended to do laundry and go to bed early, but I sat down and then next thing I knew I was watching a movie. It’s called May and it was bad. It was really, really bad. Words can’t express how bad it was. Consider yourself lucky if you haven’t wasted two hours of your life watching this heinous piece of crap, waste of film, theatrical monstrosity. I’m actually ashamed that I watched the whole thing and didn’t just turn it off when I realized how awful it was (right around the part where a guy brings his dog’s gangrene-ridden leg into the vet clinic where May works and asks if she can just sew it back on). Guh.

The Good, The Bad And The Not-Very-Bright

Yesterday was a bizarre series of ups and downs. The day started with me going out to the car only to find the battery dead. Newer Volkswagons have a weird thing where the headlights are connected to the ignition and they turn on and off with the whole car, but the inside dashboard lights have to be manually turned on and off. Because I am an idiot, I didn’t turn them off when I got home from the video store/Taco Bell run Sunday night and consequently killed the battery. This was bad. After calling my boss to let her know I’d be a little bit late, I called the guys at the towing company we use at work and they came out, gave me a jump and didn’t charge me for it. This was good. After a normal few hours at work, a resident came in and cussed me out about the valet parking lot, which I have no control over whatsoever. This was bad. But not long before we were getting ready to close up, Eric came in to say hello. This was good. After an uneventful few hours at home, I got ready to go out to Dante’s for Karaoke From Hell with the regular Wednesday folks from the Boiler Room. I grabbed my bag and locked the bottom lock on the door and pulled it shut behind me. After digging around in my bag for an unnecessarily long time as it’s not that big, I finally accepted that I’d locked myself out of both the house and the car. I went next door to see if my neighbor was home because he has a spare key, but he wasn’t and then I remembered I’d left my bedroom window open, so I basically had to break into my own house because, yet again, I was an idiot. This was bad. However, I got to Dante’s and had a good time and got a maple bar at Voodoo Donut before I went home. This was good. And the moral of the story is this: as long as you end your day with donuts, being an idiot isn’t so bad.

Backspace

After lazing around for a good portion of yesterday I met up with Owen at Captain Ankeny’s for beer and pizza. Around 7ish, O's friend Eric met us and dropped off Owen’s bike and we all went our separate ways. I had gotten a choice parking spot that I didn’t want to give up, so I wandered over to Backspace and played Halo with strangers for awhile to kill the time before the 9pm show at Dante’s. If you live in Portland and like video games (old school Atari, new Xbox or PC), coffee, Voodoo Donuts, art, pool, chess, comfy couches or any combination of the above, go to Backspace. Seriously, go. Dude, they have Tron! Ok, I know… I’m a dork. But to quote my friend Guy: “Dorks rule.”

In other news, I went to three of the four shows I planned to hit last night and also managed to get a beer in and say hey to the bartenders at The Boiler Room between shows. I went back to the guys’ house after the Dr. Theopolis show and got home before 5am, so that’s something. I slept until almost 12:30 and the only thing on my agenda today is laundry and maybe watching a movie. This means pajamas all day. Not that you needed to know that, but whatever…

Surprised? Embarrassed? Donuts?

The MusicfestNW ads read: 3 nights, 200 bands, 20 venues, $20. As if it’s even possible to see them all. Not that I want to, mind you. To justify that statement, I’ll just say two words: The Buttfrenchers. Don’t ask. Anyway, after spending an hour hanging out with Lara at The Boiler Room, I walked down the street to the Cobalt Lounge and saw 800 Octane. Eric, the guitar player, lives where I work and gets more packages than anyone. EVER. At one point a few months ago, I’d said something about how he must be pretty popular and he said no, he’s not, he’s in a band and it’s band stuff (stickers, cds, etc). After the last few months of being nosy and asking when and where they’re playing, he tells me last week about the show on Friday night at the Cobalt and says I should go. About 10 minutes later, he comes back with a cd and at that point I started to wonder what I’d agreed to go check out. The cover of the cd has the four guys in the band all painted up zombie-style and it’s kinda creepy. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that they’re a punk/rock band. Their set was about 40 minutes of high-energy rock and knocking shit over (excellent) but when the next band, The Buttfrenchers (I don’t even like typing that, let alone saying it out loud), got going, it was painfully apparent that it was time to head out. On the way back to the cars, the Voodoo Donut folks were having a how-fast-can-you-eat-a-frickin’-huge-donut contest so we stopped to watch and since I can’t seem to pass that place without going in, we went in. They’ve got a bench out in front that’s a perfect people watching spot, so we sat down and, according to Eric, at approximately 4 minute intervals for an hour and a half people I know came by and said hey. I would like to state for the record that I’m not that popular. I just know a lot of people and 3/4ths of them happened to walk by last night. But I digress. I had a great time and I’m ready to do the rock show marathon tonight: 4 bands, 4 venues, 4 hours. I’m sure I’ll be showed out after that…at least until next week.

It's Like Crack, Only Legal

I'm getting worried that I've become addicted to Taco Bell 7-layer burritos and mexi-nuggets. I've eaten that like five times in the last seven days. It's just so damn good. Normally, I save Taco Bell for late night after-drinks bingeing, but I can't seem to drive past the Bell on my way home from work or wherever lately without stopping. And I get the same thing every single time. What the crap?

In other news, my roommate gets to go to a Diabetes benefit party at the Playboy mansion and I don't. That biatch.

Music To Move You

Ok, I'm a firm believer that if you have any soul to speak of, music makes you move. Toe-tapping, booty-shaking, head-bobbing, finger-drumming, knee-bending.....doesn't matter what body part is affected. It's uncontrollable and it's almost painful to fight if a song has a good, solid beat or catchy melody. So with no further ado, here are some albums to check out if you want to move to a groove:

Goldfrapp's "Black Cherry"
God Lives Underwater's "Life In The So-Called Space Age"
N.E.R.D.'s "In Search Of..."
Idlewild's "The Remote Part" (my new favorite band, btw)
Camaro Hair's "Far From Ok"
Dahlia's "Vases"